Indeed, the assimilation (the process of one cultural group being absorbed into another) of large numbers of traditional Viking warriors into the very kingdoms and peoples they had once attacked and looted was the principal reason for the eventual disappearance of old-style Norse culture. And the rise of the Normans was a prime example.
In the late 800s increasing resistance by local Frankish leaders and armies largely foiled the efforts of the Vikings who had been attacking France. In 892 these Vikings turned their attention to raiding Britain and began using northwestern France as a base for those attacks. In 911 their leader, Rollo, made a deal with the Frankish monarch Charles the Simple. Rollo agreed to give Charles his allegiance and to convert to Christianity, and In return Rollo became a Frankish noble with control over large tracts of land and thousands of Frankish peasants.
Charles's main intention was to make these converted Norse a buffer that would blunt any further Viking raids on France. And this worked. The Vikings in northwestern France permanently settled down, and although that region became known thereafter as Normandy, or "Northman's land," they rapidly blended with the local Franks. Within two generations Normandy's residents of Scandinavian stock thought of themselves as Franks, not as Vikings.
The same process was underway in other parts of Europe and beyond. In Russia in the 900s, for example, Viking settlers steadily absorbed local Slavic names and culture. And by 1050 or so, as Haywood says, "the Rus were thoroughly Slavic in character."72
In Russia, as in France and other areas, a key part of the process of assimilation was conversion to Christianity. On the one hand, abandoning their pagan beliefs and rituals in favor of Christian ones made the converted Vikings culturally more like their former enemies. On the other hand, switching to Christianity made it easier for Norse leaders to control their subjects. This was because they could now claim that their rule was divinely inspired and ordained by God. Also, as Christians, these rulers could more easily make deals with existing European Christian kingdoms. In these ways, the Scandinavian upper classes gained new ways of acquiring wealth and prestige. Raiding and other old-style Viking ways were no longer necessary.
World History
